With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way.
I’ll never forget getting the phone call
from my older brother George and I
answered the phone and he was crying he
said to me Chris you’ll never believe
what happened I’ve just got this letter
from the government department it says
that I’ve been adopted now from what it
first said that I kind of went to it you
know that’s crazy and I start to make a
joke because you know when you’re
growing up we never think you’re related
to your siblings and I made a joke and I
could tell that that you was really
serious and I said you know what George
why don’t you just call them tell them
they’ve made some kind of administrative
error and then call me back and let me
know and maybe less than 10 minutes
later George called me back mrs.
Christine it’s true he goes they told me
the name of my biological mom when I was
born when I was immunized where I went
to school they have a whole file on my
life and he goes I’m gonna go straight
over to mums of just ask her what’s
going on and I remember just thinking
you know I’ve got to get over to my
mom’s house and I come from a Greek
background and Greeks very volatile we
kind of act first and think later and
I’m thinking George is going to go and
confront mum and you know my dad had
died several years before this and all I
could think about was his mom I’m gonna
be at home by herself and this big
family secret obviously for 35 years is
about to come out into the open I don’t
quite know what was going to happen so I
raced over to my mom’s house and I
walked into the lounge room just at the
moment that my brother was giving my mum
this piece of paper from of the
government department my mum took it and
hesitated and you know at that moment I
thought oh my gosh this is true my mum
just started weeping and she said George
I’m so sorry I never thought that you
would find out I we adopted you 35 years
ago when you were born and back in those
days in Australia all the adoptions were
closed adoptions we never thought you
would find out and you know the last
thing I promised your dad just before he
died I promised him that we would never
tell you so we took all of the paperwork
and I tore it all up and you know any
records that we had we just tore them up
and never thinking that you would find
out and it was one of us kind of seroma
my mum was weeping my brother was
weeping and I’m looking and by then my
younger brother had turned up as well
we’re just kind of standing there in the
kitchen and I’m not able to believe that
there was this family secret for 35
years none of us knew that everyone’s a
brother was adopted and then my mom just
looked up at me I’ll never forget it and
she said it’s dinner since we’re telling
the truth would you like to know the
whole truth and I just looked at her and
actually I’m not even quite sure why I
said this but looking her where I’ve
been adopted to just be to streaming
down her face my mum started weeping I
mean I was two weeks out from my 33rd
birthday and here I was in my mom’s
kitchen just finding out not only my
older brother been adopted but I was
adopted too and in that instant every
fact that I thought to be true about my
life changed where I was born who my
biological parents were what my name was
every fact change and in all of that
emotion I just remember that that’s
surreal feeling I kind of felt like I
was in The Truman Show where I had just
discovered that my life was in a bubble
I mean I’d lived in one home for 30
years I have to say – for 30 years and I
you know my relatives everybody knew
that I was adopted except for me and it
was such a strange thing I remember when
I got my my birth certificate when I ran
away I got my original birth certificate
suddenly there it is I’m looking at a
birth certificate and it said um child’s
name I’m ranked number-two 5:08 of 1966
and here I was to discover that all the
facts about my life were different to
what I thought that I wasn’t even named
I was just a number according to this
original birth certificate that the
social worker report that was written
said that I was unwanted and went on to
explain how my biological mother never
really wanted me and wanted to look at
other options but you know here I was
and and I could have really really went
into a tailspin and I’ve talked to many
people around the world since sharing my
story
that it really through that this concept
of being adopted and being unwanted or
perhaps being unnamed but I have to
admit that because I have a firm
foundation my life is built on the firm
foundation of Jesus Christ that even
though in that instant I kind of felt
that I was in a surreal moment that on a
deeper level
I really wasn’t shaken because although
I found out at that moment I didn’t know
who my biological father was or my
biological parents were that I have a
heavenly father and that I have such a
strong faith in Jesus Christ and in my
heavenly Father God that even though all
the earthly facts about my life changed
the truth really never changed and the
truth is that I have a father in heaven
that loves me that he loves you and me
so much that He gave His only begotten
Son Jesus Christ to die for us and I
realized then that my faith in Christ
wasn’t just some kind of religious thing
but it was a firm foundation that I
truly believe that the core of my being
that God created me with a purpose and
with a plan and then although you know
my birth certificate says that I’m
unnamed the God’s Word says that before
I was even formed in my mother’s were
worm that God named my name that God
created me intentionally that I wasn’t
an accident that even though I don’t
know the circumstances surrounding my
conception I don’t know if I was the
result of a one-night stand perhaps an
ongoing a doctor’s affair or even a rape
that although I don’t know the facts
surrounding my circumstances I know the
truth I know that God created me with a
plan and a purpose and before I ever got
to the planet he planned for me to be
here he planned good works for me to do
when I got here and because I have that
foundation that even though the facts of
my circumstances have changed the truth
never has and you know what the good
news is that that same God in heaven not
only
maeín has a great plan and purpose for
my life but he has that for every single
person on the planet and so I thank God
that in one of the greatest moments of
potential crisis in my life that the
truth of God’s Word and the truth of a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ
held me firm and secure in the midst of
crisis